Wood-turning lathe.



c. H. WAYMOTH.

WOOD TURNING LATHE.

APPLICATION IILE D SEPT. 27, 1904.

901,503. Patented Oct-20,1908.

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WOOD TURNING LATHE.

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U. H. WAYMOTH. WOOD TURNING LATHE. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 27, 1904.

901,503. Patented Oct. 20, 1908.

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CHARLES H. WAYMOTH, OF FITOHBURG, MASSACHUSETTS.

WOOD-TURNING LATHE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 20, 1908.

Application filed September 27, 1904. Serial No. 226,235.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES H. WAY- MOTH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Fitchburg, in the county of Worcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Wood-Turning Lathe, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to that class of lathes which are used for automatically shaping articles out of wood or similar materials.

The especial object of this invention is to provide a strong, simple and efficient form of lathe which can be efficiently operated at comparatively high speeds, and in which the parts are so connected as not to be choked or interfered with by the chips cut from the work.

To this end, this invention consists of the lathe and of the combinations of parts therein as hereinafter described and more particularly pointed out in the claims at the end of this specification.

In the accompanying three sheets of drawings, Figure 1 is a side view of sufficient parts of a lathe and its driving connections to illustrate the application of my invention thereto. Fig. 2 is a partial plan view of the same. Fig. 3 is a side view partly broken away of the parts shown in'Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a side view of the head-stock of the lathe. Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is a detail view of one of the take-up screws for the head-stock ways. Fig. 7 is a detail View of the connections for feeding the head-stock, and Fig. 8 is a detail view of the friction for the feed rack.

Referring to the accompanying drawings and in detail, a lathe constructed according to this invention, as herein illustrated, comprises the lathe bed B which is supported upon legs L in the ordinary manner. Carried by the bed B is a movable head-stock H which is movably mounted upon the bed as hereinafter described.

The spindle of the head-stock is provided with a chuck 10 for holding one end of the stick or blank, from which the work is to be turned, and the head-stock spindle is preferably provided with a face-plate 11 which acts as a fly-wheel.

In ordinary lathes of the class to which this invention relates the head-stock spindles have ordinarily been comparatively upon the head-stock pulley.

light, and I have found in practice'that by employing a fly-wheel or face-plate 11, a more uniform speed of rotation may be maintained for the work being operated upon. Also mounted upon the bed B is a guide for the other end of the work having a roughing out tool T; and also mounted upon the bed is a circular saw S for cutting off the completed work; a tool-frame for carrying shaping tools, and a spindle or rod R for carrying a drill or other tool for shaping the end of the work.

As herein illustrated, power may be applied to the lathe through a countershaft 12. Mounted on the countershaft 12 is a long ulley or drum 13 having a belt 14 for driving the head-stock spindle. The rear strand of the belt 14 passes through a guide or holder 15 which is carried by a rod 16 eX- tending up from the head-stock. In practice I have found that this belt guide is desirable to keep the belt running accurately Also secured u on the countershaft 12 is the ulley 17 which drives the circular saw S t rough a belt 18. Also secured upon the countershaft 12 is a ulley 19 which drives a conepulley 21. Tide cone-pulley 21 is connected through suitable starting and stopping connections to turn the main feed-shaft of the lathe. These connections are most clearly illustrated in Fig. 3. As shown in this figure, the'hub of the pulley 21 is provided with a clutch-piece 25 which cooperates with a clutch-piece 26 which is controlled by a rod 27 extending through a shaft. The rod 27 has arms extending therefrom towards the front of the bed, which arms may be operated by a starting and sto ping lever 28, as shown in Fi 1. A han -wheel shown at the right of Figs. 2 and 3 is also employed to operate the feed-Works by hand when the operator is setting the knives and bit in the lathe. The hand-lever 28 controls the connection of the clutch with the rod 27 so that when the operator gets the tools set correctly he can then throw in the feed by turning the hand-lever, and the lathe may then be operated automatically. By means of these connections, the starting and stopping lever may be located near the position usually occu ied by the workman, whereas in some of t e previous lathes of this class, it has been necessary for the workman to go to the end of the machine to start or stop the same.

Turning with the shaft, driven from the cone-pulley 21, is a pinion which meshes with and drives a large gear 29 upon the main feed-shaft 30.

Secured upon the main feed-shaft 30 are the track-cams 31 and 32. As shown most clearly in Figs. 5 and 7 the track-cam 31 operates connections for feeding the head stock of the lathe. As shown in these figures, the track cam 31 engages a pin carried by a slide or bar 33. The slide or bar 33 is provided at its other end with a pin or screw 34 which eX tends through a slot at one end of the feedrack 35. To regulate the amount of lost motion between the rod 33 and the feed-rack 35, I employ the stop-screws 94 and 36. The stop-screw 36 is held in adjusted positions by the lock-nut 37. The stop-screw 36 is the one which is ordinarily adjusted to secure different lengths of feed; while the stopscrew 94 is intended to be adjusted only when different forms or lengths of chucks 10 are used, the adjustment of the stop-screw 94 being intended to permit the chuck being used to be fed close up to the cutting-off tool, so that the greatest possible amount of each'piece of stock may be used.

As shown most clearly in Fig. 5, the feedrack 35 is provided with downwardly facing ratchet teeth which cooperate with a weighted head-stock pawl 66.

The groove of the track-cam 31 is preferably laid out to give a slow feed stroke and a quick return to the sliding bar 33. By adjusting the amount of lost motion between the sliding bar and the rack 35, by means of the end screw 36, the number of ratchettoothed spaces which the work will be advanced at each operation may be varied as desired.

One particular advantage in the connections which I employ for feeding the headstock of a lathe constructed according to this invention arises from the fact that the teeth of the feed-rack are faced downwardly, the particular advantage of this arrangement being that the rack will not be filled up with chips or sawdust, and an accurate feeding movement of the carriage will be obtained at all times. Cooperating with the end of the feed-rack, as shown in Figs. 5 and 8, is a friction-piece 67 carried by a bracket extending up from the lathe bed. This friction for the feed-rack serves to hold the feedrack stationary except when positively shifted either forward or back by the sliding rod 33. For supporting the head-stock upon its ways and for taking up the wear of these parts, I employ a construction of ways and an arrangement of take-up screws which is most clearly illustrated in Fig. 6. As shown in this figure, the bed B of the lathe has a flat upper surface and is provided with inwardly extending overhanging ways. The head-stock rests upon the flat upper surfaces of the bed and is held down thereon by re taining pieces 23 which may be .bolted to the head-stock, as shown. In order to adjust the retaining pieces 23 and to take up the wear of these parts, I preferably employ one or more taper-headed take-up screws 24. I consider this a particularly desirable construction for mounting the head-stock upon its ways and for taking up the wear of the same, because the ways are protected from injury and are located where they will not be obstructed by chips or sawdust.

As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the track-cam 32 is engaged by an arm extending down from the rod or spindle R which may carry a drill or maybe provided with a frame or support of any kind for the tool for engaging and facing the .end of the work.

For operating the toolholder and the cutofi' saw and for successively moving these parts back out of the way, I employ special connections illustrated most clearly in Fig. 4. As shown in this figure, the tool carrying frame F is hinged to a bell-crank shaped frame 38 which is carried by a bracket 68 secured to the bed B of the lathe.

The horizontal arm of the frame 38 is also connected to the tool-carrying frame F by a turn-buckle connection 39. By adjusting the turn-buckle connection 39 the angular position of the tool-carrying frame F may be adjusted.

For operating the bell-crank frame 38, I employ a partial gear 40 which is fastened upon the feed-shaft 30. The partial gear 40 I engages a partialgear 41 which is pivoted on a stationary stud and is provided with a crank-pin connected by a link 42 to the bellcrank shaped frame 38. The number of teeth in the partial gear 40 are designed to impart one complete turn to the partial gear 41. Also cooperating with the partial gear 40 on the shaft 30 is a partial gear 42 which is pivoted on a stationary stud in the bed and is provided with a crank pin which is connected by a link 43 to a vertical lever 44. The vertical lever 44 is connected at its upper end to a plate 45 adjustably mounted upon the saw-carriage 46. By clamping the plate 45 in different positions with respect to the saw-carriage 46, I am able to use different sized saws and by means of the connections described, the saw will be moved transversely to out off the pieces of work as they are successively completed.

In the operation of the lathe as a whole the head-stock carries the work or stick forward through the guide, the same first being roughed out by the roughing tool T. The shaping tool then acts upon the worln The work may be bored or faced off by a drill or other tool carried by the rod or spindle R and the completed piece is sawed off by the circular saw S. 7 These several operations are performed so that they can take place in proper sequence and at high speeds. A lathe of this character is especially designed for automatically shaping small wooden articles. The feeding forward of the head-stock of the lathe takes place after the mutilated gears have thrown the shaping tools'and cuttingoff saw out of Operative position. In using a lathe as thus constructed in the manufacture of small wooden duplicate pieces an essentially different operation is secured from that which is effected in the ordinary types of wood-turning lathes in which the work is fed forward by the tail-stock. That is to say in a lathe constructed according to my invention the turning, shaping and cutting-off of the successive pieces all take place at the same fixed point in the length of the lathebed. This is important in practice as it permits the attendant to stand in one place at the lathe where he has complete control of the stopping handle, the attendant not being required to walk up toward the head-stock to observe successive operations as is the case with the ordinary types of lathes now used. In addition to this by having the cutting-off saw and shapin tools fixed in longitudinal position along t e engine lathe, the adjustment and operation of said parts will not vary or be changed by irregularities or warping of the lathe bed itself.

I am aware that numerous changes may be made in the construction of my lathe by those who are skilled in the art without departing from the scope of my invention as expressed in the claims and that a number of features of my invention may be used in different locations and in different combinations. Ido not wish, therefore, to be li1nited to the construction I have herein shown and described, but i 7 What I do claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. A wood turning lathe comprising a lathe bed, shaping too ls fixed in longitudinal position with respect to the lathe bed, a head-stock, means for slidably engaging the head-stock with inwardly overhanging ways on the lathe-bed comprising retaining pieces, bolts for fastening the retaining pieces in place, and adjusting screws having tapering heads for spreading the retaining pieces.

2. A wood turning lathe comprising a roughing tool, shaping tool, and a cuttingoff device secured in fixed longitudinal osition with respect to the lathe bed, a lead stock, means for slidably engaging the head stock in inwardly overhanging ways on the lathe bed, comprising retaining pieces, bolts for fastening the retaining pieces, taperheaded screws for spreading the retaining pieces, a feed mechanism for the lathe-headstock, a driving belt for the lathe-stockspindle, and a long over-head driving drum on which the belt is shifted when the head stock is fed.

3. In a lathe, the combination of a lathebed, a head-stock, means for feeding the head-stock comprising a shaft, a saw mounted to move transversely with respect to the direction of feed of the head-stock, a tool-holder also mounted to move transversely with respect to the direction of feed of the head stock, and means connected with said shaft for moving said tool-holder and for sliding said saw, said means comprising a partial gear on the shaft, a pair of rotary toothed members for engaging said gear, each of said members having a crank thereon and links for connecting said cranks with the tool. holder and with the sliding saw respectively to operate them.

4. In a lathe, the combination of a lathe bed, a head-stock, means for feeding the head-stock comprising a shaft, a saw mounted to move transversely with respect to the direction of feed of the head-stock, a tool-holder also mounted to move transversely with respect to the direction of feed of the head-stock, and means connected with said shaft for moving said tool-holder and for sliding saidsaw, said means comprising a gear, a pair of rotary toothed members for engaging said gear, and means for connecting said toothed-members with the tool-holder and with the sliding saw respectively, to operate them.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES H. WAYMOTH.

Witnesses:

LOUIS W. SOUTHGATE, MARY E. REGAN. 

